Washington's Latest Special Favor

Of the nation's 143 refineries, one was exempted from the EPA's ethanol mandate. Why?

By

Kimberley A. Strassel

Aug. 8, 2013 7:14 p.m. ET

For a glimpse at the secret, special-favors factory that Washington has become under President Obama, check out this week's big news out of the Environmental Protection Agency. Or rather, look beyond the headlines to the corporate handout hidden within.

The big news was that the EPA issued—finally—its infamous annual quota for renewable fuels. That mandate tells the nation's refineries how much renewable fuel (ethanol) must be blended annually into gasoline, a quota that is becoming a pernicious driver of gas prices. The...